Jackson Mayor's tweets raise eyebrows

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
There was a huge amount of personal talk and opinions expressed Monday night following the Grand Jury's announcement in Ferguson, Missouri. Some of the Twitter comments by Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber are raising eyebrows.

Social media lit up last night around America with millions of people expressing their voices before and after the Grand Jury ruling in the Michael Brown case.

WLBT news follows tweets from around the globe including political leaders. In the middle of the Ferguson protest, we came across interesting, if not controversial, tweets by Mayor Yarber.

We went out to get the public's opinion about these social media remarks.

'I'm not sure it's appropriate to use the dead, I mean for his campaign?" said one of the people we talked to. "I don't really understand what this means, these guys are dead you should be respecting their memories. I don't think this is respectful to them in any way or form."

"Oh yeah, that's not appropriate for a Mayor to tweet, especially on twitter like social media and stuff," said another.

"Is it appropriate? I think it's very appropriate because we live in America. He has the right to tweet it. So it's not my job to judge what he can tweet and what he can't tweet," another man told us.

"I don't get into all that, peoples like that Mr. Brown, Tony Yarber," said still another Jackson resident. "Tony Yarber, I wish he would run the city better than just tweeting stuff like that because the city don't need that kind of image at all."

One person suggested the mayor needed a social media manager. Yarber's response on Twitter was "I'm good."

Some other comments the Mayor tweeted include: "My response has no tone of aggression. My response is one that points to systemic injustice. You've gotta see that" and "Uhhhhhhhhhh, I feel like I should be offended by this speech...#FergusonDecision. "Also, Sooooo...based on this blame game and very lengthy filibuster, I ASSume there will be no indictment....#FergusonDecision."

Another Jacksonian suggested the mayor concentrate on the city's infrastructure rather than these type of comments.

"Somebody said he needed a social media manager. He needs two of them. He needs one to tell him what to do and the other to let him know what the city is about because what he is doing now, that's not good for a mayor to be doing at all."

The Mayor tweeted this morning, "The morning after, we progress with HOPE, FAITH, and LOVE."

We received this response from the Mayor at 4:37 p.m. Tuesday:

“Our hearts go out to the family of Michael Brown and the entire Ferguson family. The sad commentary is not that the grand jury did not come back with an indictment. The sad commentary is many African Americans had no expectation for there to be an indictment. There must be a rush to restore trust in our justice system for all Americans. This begins with an honest debate about pervasive systemic flaws in the justice system all over the country. We will be vigilant in Jackson, Miss., to ensure that the rights of all citizens are upheld.”